Weather forecast wasn't looking pretty last weekend, at least for Mt. Rainier and the Mt. Baker areas. So with Doug's suggestion, we headed to Washington Pass to visit Silver Star Mountain. It was me, skimom, mr. doug cbcbd and giggy. The plan was to take a leisurely day and 1/2 and camp out Saturday night around 6,400 ft and climb the mountain the next day.
We pulled to the side of the road around 1-1:30 on Saturday and geared up. The path up to the broad flat ledge at 6,400 ft was pretty obvious. We'd follow to the left of a drainage where we soon found the climbers path. The way up was steep and the snow was soft, so with full packs on, it was slow but steady going. The weather moved in just as we were nearing the camping area and it snowed lightly for most of the night. For the most part, we were socked in, but would get glimpses of the route ahead. From camp, we'd climb a chute up to Burgundy Col between tall rock spires that were the dominant scene around Silver Star Mountain. We were settled in, eating dinner and melting snow by 4:30-5 and getting into some deep conversations about the meaningful lyrics of Cannibal Corpse. And not just because giggy was there.
We all got up around 5:30-6 a.m. to gorgeous skies and amazing views. The rock spires and snow gully up to the col was easy to see. It didn't take too long to eat breakfast and depart. We wore snowshoes all day Saturday and in the morning we wore them up to the chute where all but Doug decided to switch to crampons. The snow was firm for the most part heading up to Burgundy Col. This was probably one of the more tiring parts of the day because footing was difficult at times since rocks were exposed in some places. Once up to the col we were hit by the sun and some seriously nice views.
The route from here would take us down the col on a steep pitch, traversing across part of the Silver Star glacier then up to a spur ridge where we'd be on the main body of the glacier and finally get a view of the summit. The traverse across was in some deep-ish snow. Doug did all the initial trail breaking in his snowshoes and the rest of us did the supplemental breaking wearing our crampons. There was talk about jumping down into the bowl (skimom) and riding the nice powder, but knowing that would require walking back up, we (she) decided against that. Doug wished he had his skis.
Once we got up to a smaller col, we headed up a short, narrow spur ridge to a nice little bump for the hell of it. Well, and to also plan our route to the summit. That didn't take long and we started traversing across the main body of the glacier, up and across, up and across. Partway up we dropped some gear. The last climb up to the summit col was steep but the snow made great steps. I mean, Doug made great steps.
From the col, it was a few hundred more feet to the rocky summit. The snow covered most of the rocks, which made it alot nicer. Otherwise, the guide book read it was a Class III rock scramble. We dropped our packs. The summit was tiny but we squeezed in. We reached the top around 11:30-noon. Doug headed up to the *very* top, but I opted to stay put since it was high on the spicey factor. We needed to down-climb off the summit because it was steep and exposed and unlike lower on the mountain, jumping off and enjoying a ride wasn't an option here.
Amazing place those North Cascades. There's just miles and miles of knarly peaks in every direction. When you're up there it's almost like nothing else exists in the world but mountains and great climbing partners, which, hey.. that's about all I need anyway.
I bet you didn't read any of this and just scrolled right down to click on this:
http://leaf.smugmug.com/gallery/8117915_Dkp7x#529269063_eDySq
We pulled to the side of the road around 1-1:30 on Saturday and geared up. The path up to the broad flat ledge at 6,400 ft was pretty obvious. We'd follow to the left of a drainage where we soon found the climbers path. The way up was steep and the snow was soft, so with full packs on, it was slow but steady going. The weather moved in just as we were nearing the camping area and it snowed lightly for most of the night. For the most part, we were socked in, but would get glimpses of the route ahead. From camp, we'd climb a chute up to Burgundy Col between tall rock spires that were the dominant scene around Silver Star Mountain. We were settled in, eating dinner and melting snow by 4:30-5 and getting into some deep conversations about the meaningful lyrics of Cannibal Corpse. And not just because giggy was there.
We all got up around 5:30-6 a.m. to gorgeous skies and amazing views. The rock spires and snow gully up to the col was easy to see. It didn't take too long to eat breakfast and depart. We wore snowshoes all day Saturday and in the morning we wore them up to the chute where all but Doug decided to switch to crampons. The snow was firm for the most part heading up to Burgundy Col. This was probably one of the more tiring parts of the day because footing was difficult at times since rocks were exposed in some places. Once up to the col we were hit by the sun and some seriously nice views.
The route from here would take us down the col on a steep pitch, traversing across part of the Silver Star glacier then up to a spur ridge where we'd be on the main body of the glacier and finally get a view of the summit. The traverse across was in some deep-ish snow. Doug did all the initial trail breaking in his snowshoes and the rest of us did the supplemental breaking wearing our crampons. There was talk about jumping down into the bowl (skimom
) and riding the nice powder, but knowing that would require walking back up, we (she) decided against that. Doug wished he had his skis.Once we got up to a smaller col, we headed up a short, narrow spur ridge to a nice little bump for the hell of it. Well, and to also plan our route to the summit. That didn't take long and we started traversing across the main body of the glacier, up and across, up and across. Partway up we dropped some gear.
The last climb up to the summit col was steep but the snow made great steps. I mean, Doug made great steps. From the col, it was a few hundred more feet to the rocky summit. The snow covered most of the rocks, which made it alot nicer. Otherwise, the guide book read it was a Class III rock scramble. We dropped our packs.
The summit was tiny but we squeezed in. We reached the top around 11:30-noon. Doug headed up to the *very* top, but I opted to stay put since it was high on the spicey factor. We needed to down-climb off the summit because it was steep and exposed and unlike lower on the mountain, jumping off and enjoying a ride wasn't an option here.Amazing place those North Cascades. There's just miles and miles of knarly peaks in every direction. When you're up there it's almost like nothing else exists in the world but mountains and great climbing partners, which, hey.. that's about all I need anyway.
I bet you didn't read any of this and just scrolled right down to click on this:
http://leaf.smugmug.com/gallery/8117915_Dkp7x#529269063_eDySq
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